Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project Wallasea
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Ernie Janes(rspb-images.com) Bob Glover(rspb-images.com) What is the Wallasea Island Wild Coast WALLASEA ISLAND Project? WILD COAST It will be a landmark conservation and engineering project for the 21st century on a scale never before attempted in the UK, PROJECT and the largest of its type in Europe. Restoring the Wild Coast of Essex This project is a visionary response to the challenge that climate change is posing to the wildlife and landscapes of England’s low lying coastline. It aims to transform, in a phased and managed way, 620 hectares of arable farmland into the coastal marshland it once was. This equates to an area 2½ times the size of the City of London. The newly restored landscape will be a wetland mosaic of mudflats and saltmarsh, shallow lagoons and pastures. Close to Thames Gateway These will be criss-crossed by higher level bunds along which visitors will be able to access much of this new Wild Coast. Andy Hay(rspb-images.com) Wallasea lsland lies in the heart of an internationally important estuary close to the Thames Gateway and for many people it will be the closest accessible Wild Coast. This new Wild Coast will support nationally and internationally important bird populations. We hope to re-establish lost breeding populations of birds such as spoonbills and Kentish plovers back to England. This project will develop innovative ways of creating and managing coastal habitats. This will include importing WALLASEA ISLAND recovered inert materials to raise land levels to reduce tidal volumesto match the capacity of the estuary. There will also WILD COAST be a lagoon where a series of pipes and culverts, connected “There is such magic to the estuary, will give precise water level control for breeding, PROJECT watching the birds of feeding and passage birds. Quite simply, Wallasea Island the Essex coast that it will be the largest and most Restoring the Wild Coast of Essex can be all too easy to Existing properties and businesses on Wallasea lsland will not important coastal habitat forget how much has be adversely affected by our plans and we will work closely re-creation scheme in the UK, been lost. Restoring with all interests in developing the project. close to the Thames Gateway, wild landscapes poses Europe’s largest growth area. huge challenges, yet Many organisations and individuals have already voiced support is a great opportunity for the project. Graham Wynne Find out more… for people and RSPB Chief Executive wildlife. The RSPB The new RSPB led Wallasea lsland Project lies adjacent to Information on the project can be found on the RSPB website Wallasea Island Wild the 115 hectare Wallasea Wetlands Creation Project. This Defra www.rspb.org.uk/wallasea Coast Project will (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) managed be recreating lost realignment scheme was opened to the sea in 2006 and is Andy Hay(rspb-images.com) We will also publicise details of events and guided walks at Wallasea coastal marshes on now managed by the RSPB. Our project will build on the on the website as well as in the local media. an unprecedented success of the Defra scheme and provide linked intertidal scale, at the same time habitats on a landscape scale. Chris Tyas, the Wallasea Island project manager, can be contacted at tackling the challenges the following address: www.rspb.org.uk of climate change This is a partnership project conceived by the RSPB, with and sea level rise. agreement with the owners, Wallasea Farms, that the RSPB RSPB, 1 Old Hall Lane, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife, tackling The result will be a the problems that threaten our environment. haven for wildlife and will purchase most of the island. Project partners Maldon, Essex. CM9 8TP Nature is amazing – help us keep it that way. include Crossrail and the Environment Agency. a marvellous place for Printed on environmentally-friendly paper Email: [email protected] people to relax and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, enjoy nature.” Scotland no. SC037654 Printed by www.gowise.co.uk 11/ 08 Ian Darling Chairman RSPB Council Ben Hall (rspb-images.com) David Levenson(rspb-images.com) Jan Sevcik(rspb-images.com) What will it look like? Our vision for Wallasea lsland is to turn this blank canvas of arable farmland into a rich mosaic of habitats with approximately 148 ha of mudflats, 192 ha of saltmarsh and 76 ha of shallow saline lagoons. A habitat adaptation zone of 86 ha will support further new saltmarsh as sea level continues to rise. Once completed, it will be a landscape used by people as well as wildlife, enjoyed by local communities and those from farther afield. Visitors will be able to come to Wallasea lsland for relaxation and enjoyment whether for birdwatching, walking, cycling, painting or photography. Wherever possible we will provide public access that will allow visitors and Rare birds such as the spoonbill may be attracted to breed at the Wild Coast Project wildlife to happily coexist. The current access along the north (Defra) seawall will be unaffected by construction works. We will provide more than 15 kilometres of new and improved access routes, and a range of visitor facilities after the habitat is created. Why is it needed? A place to enjoy nature Andy Hay(rspb-images.com) What will it involve? The challenges that the Wallasea Island project seeks to tackle Peter Cairns(rspb-images.com) are real and pressing. Four hundred years ago there were 30,000 hectares of intertidal saltmarsh around the Essex coast. Managing a project of this scale presents huge challenges for the RSPB and its partners. We have carried out detailed Now there are just 2,500 hectares. In England, saltmarshes studies to help inform the design and assess the impacts of our proposal. This information has been passed to Essex and mudflats are continuing to decline at a rate of 100 hectares County Council in a planning application submitted for the Council’s consideration. In deciding whether to grant planning a year. This rate of loss will accelerate with climate change permission, the County Council will be consulting widely and will take account of any views on the RSPB’s proposals. as rising sea levels and more storminess steadily erode the precious transition zone between land and sea. The proposed scheme will create new wildlife habitats in phases over about 10 years. This will include making gaps Without action we will lose a in the sea walls to allow seawater to flow in and out with the tides, similar to those on the adjacent 115 hectares of landscape that defines this part These mudflats and saltmarsh provide a home to a wonderful ‘managed realignment’ carried out by Defra in 2006. of England, an internationally array of wildlife and are important to people too. They are important wildlife habitat and integral to the coast’s human heritage, having been used We plan to import clean, recovered materials by ship to shape the new landform. These will reduce the volume of a place for people to find space for centuries as a source of food for local communities and, seawater entering on each tide and prevent adverse effects on navigation, shell fisheries and on other sea defences in and solitude in an increasingly increasingly in recent years, as places of recreation and the estuary. The new bank towards the western end of the project will ensure that the RSPB’s project does not increase crowded South East. enjoyment. flood risk to properties and businesses on the rest of the island. A place to explore Burnham-on-Crouch River Crouch N Defra “The Environment Agency is pleased to be working with freshwater wetland the RSPB as it develops this exciting wetland creation project. Such an initiative saline lagoon will help our estuaries and coastlines adapt to climate brackish lagoon change and sea level rise for the benefit of people and wildlife.” Wallasea Island Paul Woodcock Wild Coast Project Environment Agency, scheme design Director Anglian Region. Key “The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project will demonstrate Defra’s existing managed realignment how major coastal engineering can be planned and managed, scheme working with the natural forces of the estuary to restore the mudflat Left: Creating a new wild coast Wild Coast for the benefit of people and wildlife.” dry grass - future saltmarsh saltmarsh River Roach Chris Tyas Wallasea Island Project Manager. tidal channel.